Jeremiah 3
How do you picture God? Aloof? Distant? Unconcerned with your life? Too many much more pressing things to worry about than to care about what you’re doing? Au contraire. “‘If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?’ says the Lord.” (vs 1)
Isaiah 55
I stole the title of this blog from the title of a chapter in my father’s book, Freedom Fighter: How God Wins the Universal War on Terror. That chapter is all about God’s amazing forgiveness. (I invite you to read the chapter online.) In many ways, God’s forgiveness does seem odd to us, because unlike most of us, God never holds a grudge. Ever.
Psalm 130
One of the misunderstandings rampant in traditional Christianity is the idea that the obstacle to our salvation is forgiveness. We have, therefore, constructed an entire theology around the life and death (especially the death) of Jesus that advances the idea that before His death, God the Father wouldn’t forgive us, but after His death, God the Father acquiesced, and we can now be forgiven for our sins.
Psalm 99
Shortly before giving birth to our first daughter, I watched an episode of the Supernanny television show, where the family being chronicled included a dad who “spanked” his children. I put that word in scare quotes because his “spanking” really amounted to nothing more than hitting the kids when he was angry or frustrated. Sometimes the blows would fall on their bottoms; other times, he hit their arms, legs, or back.
Psalm 85
In this psalm, the word Selah came immediately after this passage: “You forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins.” (vs 2) If you remember from a few days back, the word Selah most likely means to stop and carefully think about what has just been declared. God forgives our guilt and covers all our sins. Now stop and think about that!
Psalm 67
As Christians, I think we have often been guilty of understating the extravagance of God’s love. We get so focused in on our own sinfulness and our need for a Savior that we overlook the fact that God doesn’t keep a record of sins like we do. We tend to view ourselves as criminals who have broken the law, but that’s not how God sees us.
Psalm 32
This is one of those psalms that I’m sure I’ve read, but I’d never understood it in the way I did today. David said, “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” (vs 3-5)
Job 17
There is a very interesting verse in this chapter of Job. Look it up in several versions at home or online, and you’ll find a number of different renderings: "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?"(vs 3) In other words, Job is crying out to God and saying, "You will have to set things right, God. I don’t have what it takes."
Nehemiah 9
Yes, before you get too worked up, observe the spelling of the word "but" in the title. It’s a part of speech, not a part of the body! And it illustrates something wonderful about God—that He is always eager to give us another chance and that He is always willing to forgive, forget, and move on.
In this chapter, as the Israelite exiles recounted the history of God and their nation, there were a lot of buts flying around:
2 Kings 24
Since I’m writing this blog with the aim of finding out what every Bible chapter has to say about God, I’m always looking for any specific "God statements" that the Bible writers make. And boy, did I find a doozy of one in this chapter! Did you catch it? Here it is: "The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against [Jehoiakim] to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive." (vs 2-4)
1 Kings 5
It must have been quite a privilege to work on building the temple of God. Many tens of thousands of Israelites were involved in the process, as well as some foreigners. This was the little tidbit that caught my eye: "So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we [Israelites] have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians." (vs 6)
At the end
of the genesis
we come to this:
our fears
in the mouths
of the brothers—
will there be a grudge
what if we aren't forgiven
maybe we need to offer
an incentive
in order to be eligible
for grace
and God
in the face
of Joseph—
weeping over the fear
promising provision
assuring that everything
which had been done
for evil has been turned
for good
After all this time
are you still
afraid?
asked Joseph
asks God
It is not possible
that Joseph was more
gracious
than his creator.
1 SAMUEL 16
I just love it when the Bible hauls off and slaps me upside the head. This was one of those chapters. I read the whole thing, of course, recognizing the most famous verse along the way—"People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."(vs 7) But, mentally, I never really got past verse one. It hit me right between the eyes the second I read it:
Photo © Unsplash/Joshua Earle
this—
this!
is what I
long for:
a faith so strong in God
that I could
dream the dreams
brave the slave auction
endure the dungeon
and not let the
power and
position and
prestige
go to my head
a life so lived for God
that I could
suddenly find him
incarnate in me
when I come face to face
with those who have done me
wrong
a joy so complete in God
that I could revel
in my power to save
the very ones
who had wanted me dead
a heart so close to God
that in every evil act
I could see
only his goodness
only his goodness
Photo © Robert T. Garrett
Esau, Esau,
what happened to you?
The last time we heard from you,
you were muttering under your breath
about killing your brother,
having been "cheated"
(so you claimed)
out of your "blessing."
How is it, then,
that you garnered
the very best blessing of all?
When did you surrender to the
Transformer of Hearts?
Esau, Esau,
you may not have received the birthright,
but you did not escape the blessing
of a contented heart
at peace with What Is in the world.
DEUTERONOMY 33
I know. No big “earth-shattering” revelation today. We all know that God doesn’t remember our sins, but it’s awfully nice to see it in action. This promise of God’s isn’t just a claim; it’s a reality. In Deuteronomy 33, Moses pronounces a blessing on the people of Israel as they are getting ready to enter the Promised Land. As I read through the list of blessings, I couldn’t help once again noticing the names behind the tribes of Israel: Dan, Asher, Gad, Levi, Judah...
DEUTERONOMY 30
I found it curious that, in this chapter, Moses almost seems to prophesy that the Israelites will turn away from God: "When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you." (vs 1-3)
NUMBERS 14
As I read this chapter of Numbers, it occurred to me that it contained a fabulous example of how God’s forgiveness doesn’t equal salvation. I was just about to write that this was a fabulous example of how God’s forgiveness doesn’t have anything to do with salvation. But I don’t think that’s entirely true. If God wasn’t a forgiving Person, we would have no opportunity for salvation in the first place. So, forgiveness and salvation are linked in that way.
